DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE

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DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
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GROUP WORK

• First divide into like groups discuss your
  findings (10 minutes)
• Then divide into groups of 5 1 of each (First
  Nations, African-Canadians, Asian-Canadians,
  women, persons with disabilities)
• Share some of your findings with each other
• What commonalities of experiences and treatment
  did you discover among the different ethnic
  racial minorities (20 minutes)
• Report to the class as a whole discuss

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DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW OF ETHNIC ORIGIN GROUPS IN
CANADA

• Rough proportions Confederation (60 British
  30 French 1991 British 41 French 28)
• Early policy encouraged immigration from Europe
  policy liberalized in the 1970s (more objective
  process, free of ethnic biases)
• 1980s 1990s bulk came from Asia
• Population distribution ¾ of French in Quebec,
  Asian concentrations in Ontario, Alberta BC
  Aboriginal in West North Blacks in Ontario
  Nova Scotia
• Immigrant populations an urbanized population
• Educational income differences

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DIVERSE GROUPS IN THE WORKPLACE

• Based on ethnicity
• Racial ethnic groups
• Gender Women
• Disability
• Sexual orientation

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UNDERSTANDING RACE ETHNICITY

• Ascribed definition (identity at birth) members
  share a sense of belonging based on descent,
  language, religion, tradition, and other common
  experiences
• Racial group adds recognizable physical
  characteristics to above definition
• Governments often use these racial ethnic
  distinctions to put these groups in a subordinate
  status

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AGOCS JAIN, SYSTEMIC RACISM IN
EMPLOYMENTTHEORETICAL CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES

• In most workplaces in Canada, whiteness is
  constructed as normative.
• Hence, informal social behavior may harass,
  exclude or marginalize members of minorities,
  creating a chilly climate.
• Salary gap between visible minority whites
  increased proportion in upper level managements
  positions decreased for visible minorities
  especial true of Aboriginal minorities
• Systemic racial discrimination in organizational
  culture true across the country
• Issues differ for Aboriginal people, Blacks
  people of Asian South Asian ancestry, and women
  as compared with men
• Study analyzed cases between human rights
  commissions

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STUDY IN TORONTO TESTING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

• Job applicants sent to advertised positions in
  order to uncover discrimination (1 black 1
  white matched)
• In addition, 237 jobs tested over the telephone
  (majority Canadian non-majority Canadian
  applicants)
• Employers reacted differently to the majority
  Canadian as compared to ethnic applicants

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RESULTS

• Whites were offered significantly more jobs than
  Afro-Canadian applicants and were treated with
  more attention courtesy
• Telephone study the majority Canadian was
  told a job was open available in 90 of all
  cases whereas the ethnic callers were
  frequently told that the job had been taken
• Among senior men, only white applicants received
  offers for managerial positions

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BLACK MANAGERS THE DREAM DEFERRED

• Stereotype blacks are unqualified
• Concrete ceiling
• Descriptions of the climate for black managers
  indifferent, supportive in words only,
  patronizing, reluctant to accept blacks
• Double standard
• Difficult to get mentors, especially bosses
  rarely get the vote of confidence from superiors

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FEDERAL POLICY ABORIGINAL PEOPLES

• Until the 1960s complete coercive tutelage
  destruction of much of the social fabric of the
  people economic deprivation
• New democratic?-integrative? ideology
  cultural pluralism acknowledged little change,
  though, for many
• Provinces have become more active but usually
  less open to Aboriginal rights
• Complexity and inherent contradictions of social
  policies
• Little help with economic development (some
  progress with human capital development
  educational training)
• Value differences with Western culture value
  long term overall benefits importance of
  welfare of the collective
• Recommendations integrated policies - real
  economic development not just minimal community
  support change government policy from that of
  assimilation to Aboriginal empowerment
  ownership of resources self-government

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FIRST NATION PEOPLE SOME DEMOGRAPHIC
CHARACTERISTICS

• Hiring First Nations worst off (together with
  disabled people)
• Sex segregation
• Outright discrimination
• Pay is often less than responsibilities in the
  job
• Difficulty in getting promoted

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NATIVE PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION IN
URBAN EMPLOYMENT CENTRES FINDINGS

• Subtle discrimination
• Systemic Discrimination
• The public service of Canada hired around 2
  Aboriginal peoples. There is a ceiling cap of
  how many are allowed to be employed at any given
  point in time.
• Stereotyping, lack of recognition, negative
  attitudes, etc.
• Harder for women
• Findings in Newfoundland vs. Ontario
• Majority of participants perceived discrimination
  only after comparing their situation with that of
  another co-worker
• Organizational culture tension clash between
  native values and corporate culture (experienced
  a lot of greed, untruth materialism in the
  corporate culture) no support from the
  organization
• Effects work related attitudes lack of
  motivation satisfaction toward their work
  also have to work harder than majority people in
  order to be judged adequate

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BARRIERS TO WORKPLACE ADVANCEMENT TO SENIOR
POSITIONS EXPERIENCES OF NATIVE AMERICANS

• Stereotyping discrimination devaluing their
  qualifications not fit
• Internalizing of majority societal norms
• Lower educational credentials
• Cultural differences many groups are less
  individualistic, competitive, aggressive,
  assertive (different conceptualization of
  leadership)
• Social Structure factors informal hiring
  networks, dominant group vs. subdominant group,
  no cultural training of the majority group, lack
  of mentors

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CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY

• Discrimination in employment must be viewed as
  part of a larger dynamic whereby certain groups
  of people maintain their position of privilege
  largely at the expense of other groups who are
  deliberately or sometimes inadvertently excluded
  from full equal participation
• Therefore, attempting to change the attitudes or
  even the behavior of individual discriminators is
  a fruitless endeavor.
• What is required is a total overhauling of the
  system in order to make sure that race, religion
  the like are not used as indicators of an
  employees abilities.

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GENDER DISCRIMINATION

• Women traditionally programmed to have less
  education
• Impact of job segregation, socialization, etc.
• Organizational policies
• Status attainment
• Denial of authority positions
• Part-time work (traditional role)

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ORNSTEINS STUDY OF CANADA

• Education experience
• Full-time part time
• Business characteristics ownership, firm size
  unionization
• Occupational wage structure
• Authority relations

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RACE GENDER

• Phenomenon Substitute the lesser evil.
• Both white women and black have difficulty with
  the glass concrete ceiling, but blacks more so.
• White women are making it before blacks
• Role of stereotypes the higher the white male
  rises, the less likely he is to hold negative
  stereotypes about women but more likely to hold
  negative stereotypes about blacks.
• Black women considered less threatening than
  black men

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PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES SOME DEMOGRAPHIC
CHARACTERISTICS

• Hiring Persons with disabilities are similar in
  terms of discrimination with First Nations
• Sex segregation
• Outright discrimination
• Pay is often less than responsibilities in the
  job
• Promotion
• Lack of role models for disabled women.

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EFFECTS OF EMPLOYMENT EQUITY ACT IN CANADA

• Little substantive change in the employment
  status of people with disabilities.
• Perception of disability socially constructed
• Social attitudes lag behind technological changes
• Effect of income support programs
• Employment barriers structural, systemic,
  attitudinal

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REPRESENTATION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
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DEMOGRAPHICS ADULTS 25-54 (2001)
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INFLUENCE OF CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

• Work context people with visual impairments
  least accepted
• Marriage context people with epilepsy
• Dating context people with an amputated limb

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GENERAL FINDINGS

• Personal characteristics- persons with
  disabilities less independent aggressive but
  more admirable
• Disability type shows significant effects on
  person-job fit, screening decision, starting
  salary, performance expectations advancement
  potential

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EMPLOYMENT ISSUES OF GAYS AND LESBIANS

• Work related issues
• Unable to obtain employment or being fired
• Other work issues
• Social effects at work
• Job security
• Same sex benefits
• Coping strategies
• Counterfeiting
• Integrating
• Avoiding
• Experience in Newfoundland

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EMPLOYMENT ISSUES IN NEWFOUNDLAND
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COPING STRATEGIES IN NEWFOUNDLAND
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ASSIGNMENT FOR 16/11/2005

• TOPIC Customer-Driven Marketing
• Class Activities
• Activity Find a Need Fill It
  
• Video Firing Your Customer (questions on p. 299)